Familiar faces to appear in Stars of Tomorrow softball tournaments

The high school softball season ended this past weekend, but that competitive spark is about to be reignited this weekend in La Crosse.

That's when the Stars of Tomorrow softball tournaments, featuring some of the best teams from around the area, return to Shelby fields.

Central, Arcadia, De Soto, Holmen, Westby and Tomah are competing in the varsity tournament carrying virtually the same varsity rosters fielded in the spring.

"Some teams do it differently," tournament director Dan Boland said. "With some teams, the graduated girls will not play in the varsity."

However, the majority of the returning players are expected to play.

"It should be a pretty strong tournament," said Boland, who is in his first year as the tournament director. "They've had the varsity tournament before in the past but it kind of went away, and last year was the first year they brought it back."

With three conference champions and one WIAA Division 4 state qualifier in this year's field, the varsity division shouldn't disappoint, but Boland said the younger groups also should be competitive.

"You see a lot of the girls come and play in the tournament, and then you see a lot of those girls playing varsity ball next year," Boland said. "It's fun to see them play in the tournament this summer and then go back and help their school teams next spring."

The 14-and-under division will feature eight teams, while the 16-and-under will be comprised of six teams.

"There's always good competition," Boland said. "The nice part is they will play a lot of ball this weekend. They're guaranteed at least four games and some of them will play five (games)."

The tournament kicks off at 8:30 a.m. Friday and will run until roughly 7 p.m. On Saturday, play will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude around 4 p.m. to set up Sunday's semifinals at 8 a.m. and championship rounds at noon.

"There's always good competition," Boland said. "They will definitely get a lot of good experience out of it."